headline: Videos challenge DHS account of fatal shooting of US citizen by immigration agent in Texas slug: 2026-03-07-videos-challeng…

  • Body camera footage released Friday calls into question the Department of Homeland Security’s account that Ruben Ray Martinez intentional…
  • Martinez’s death was the earliest of at least six fatal shootings by federal agents since President Donald Trump launched a nationwide im…
  • Body camera footage released Friday shows Ruben Ray Martinez’s blue Ford sedan moving slowly through a South Padre Island intersection — …
  • The videos were released following public records requests by The Associated Press and other news organizations. They offer the first vis…

Body camera footage released Friday calls into question the Department of Homeland Security’s account that Ruben Ray Martinez intentionally rammed a federal agent with his car before he was shot and killed. The videos — made public following public records requests by The Associated Press and other news organizations — show Martinez’s car moving slowly through a South Padre Island, Texas, intersection in the seconds before HSI Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens fired three shots through the driver’s side window on March 15, 2025. Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen from San Antonio, died of his wounds.

Martinez’s death was the earliest of at least six fatal shootings by federal agents since President Donald Trump launched a nationwide immigration crackdown in his second term, and is among several cases in which video has called into question the administration’s initial accounts, according to the AP. A grand jury last week declined to bring criminal charges against Stevens; the Texas Rangers closed their investigation.

Body camera footage released Friday shows Ruben Ray Martinez’s blue Ford sedan moving slowly through a South Padre Island intersection — slowing to a near stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, then creeping forward as federal agents shouted instructions to stop — in the 15 seconds before HSI Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens fired three shots through the driver’s side window, killing the 23-year-old U.S. citizen.

The videos were released following public records requests by The Associated Press and other news organizations. They offer the first visual account of the March 15, 2025, shooting and call into question the Department of Homeland Security’s assertion that Martinez intentionally rammed an agent with his car immediately before he was killed. The body camera footage, captured from behind Martinez’s car, does not clearly show the vehicle striking an agent.

Spokespersons for DHS did not respond to requests for comment about the newly released videos, according to the AP.

What the Videos Show

Martinez and his friend Joshua Orta had driven from San Antonio to South Padre Island, a popular spring break destination, for a beach trip. Shortly after midnight, Martinez was driving his blue Ford sedan when the two came upon an intersection where South Padre police officers were directing traffic around a two-car collision. Also at the scene were three HSI agents from a maritime border security task force who had been redirected to conduct immigration enforcement, according to documents.

Body camera footage from two of the island’s police officers shows Martinez’s car approaching the intersection and slowing to a near stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. Once the pedestrians clear, the car pulls slowly into the intersection before stopping again as HSI agents approach, shouting at the driver to stop.

One of the HSI agents, identified in documents as Special Agent Hector Sosa, moved in front of the car. Stevens positioned himself on the driver’s side and reached toward the door.

As officers shouted for Martinez to stop, his car began slowly moving forward and turning left. Stevens, keeping pace with the vehicle on the driver’s side, appeared to lean toward the open window. He pulled his weapon and fired three rapid shots through the window before backing away.

Officers handcuffed Martinez after the car came to a full stop. He remained on the ground, unmoving, for approximately a minute before paramedics — already on scene for the earlier traffic accident — began providing medical aid. An autopsy report showed all three shots struck Martinez, with bullets traveling through his left arm before entering his torso and piercing his heart, lungs, liver, and other organs.

Competing Accounts

Stevens, in a three-page written statement provided to the Texas Rangers nearly two months after the shooting, said Martinez “accelerated forward, striking Special Agent Sosa who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.” He also wrote that he narrowly avoided being struck himself, with the impact “causing the mirror to break off of the vehicle.” A photo from the scene showed the mirror was damaged but still attached to the car.

Stevens wrote that he fired because he feared a potential terrorist attack intended to cause mass casualties. Still fresh in his mind, he said, were recent events including a man who had driven a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans weeks earlier.

“The driver’s eyes were open widely, fist clenched to the steering wheel, and he was looking past the officers on scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repeated verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers,” Stevens wrote. “This is a behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre attack indicator and sign of noncompliance as the suspect is looking in the path of their intended movement and is not indicative of compliance. This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties.”

A DHS spokesperson said last month that the HSI agent fired defensive shots after the driver “intentionally ran over” his fellow agent, “resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle.”

Orta offered a different account to investigators. He said Martinez had been drinking that evening — several shots and a beer, plus marijuana — and had panicked at the intersection because he feared arrest for driving while intoxicated, not because he intended to harm officers. An autopsy report showed Martinez’s blood alcohol level was 0.12%, above Texas’s legal driving limit of 0.08%.

“He didn’t know what to do. Like he definitely didn’t want to go to jail,” Orta said. “But as far as like running over an officer … he wouldn’t do that.”

Orta described the car’s movement in the seconds before the shooting as slow.

“I saw the officer kind of get on the hood. Like he didn’t hit him, but like he kind of like, you know what I mean, caught his feet,” Orta said. “It was just slowly moving and they started shooting.”

Orta died in a car accident in San Antonio on Feb. 21, 2026.

Grand Jury Declines Charges; Agent Walked Without Limp

The Texas Rangers closed their investigation after a grand jury last week declined to file criminal charges against Stevens, according to records released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

As previously reported by the AP, an internal ICE investigation found that Sosa, the agent said to have been struck by Martinez’s car, was treated for an unspecified knee injury at a nearby hospital and released. Video from after the shooting shows Sosa arresting Orta and walking without any visible injury or limp.

While local media initially reported the shooting involved a police officer, DHS did not publicly disclose that its agents were involved until after the AP and other media outlets reported on the incident last month.

Lawyers for Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, said in a statement that the newly released videos and other evidence showed the car was barely moving when Stevens fired at point-blank range.

“This batch of evidence shows no justification for Ruben’s killing,” lawyers Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm said. “Still, our pursuit of full transparency will continue until we have all the facts. We, and the public, have yet to see all of the evidence held by the government.”